System for forming floor underlayment

ABSTRACT

A process for making a fibrous panel member and a flooring structure is disclosed. The flooring structure has a subfloor, a surface layer, and an insulative pad disposed between the subfloor and the surface layer. The insulative pad has an MDI binder and reinforcement fibers distributed uniformly and randomly within a first plane. The process includes mixing a porous fiber material with a MDI adhesive. The fiber batt is compressed between a pair of porous belts. Steam and heat are applied to the compressed batt to form a bound flexible batting material.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/303,561 filed on Nov. 23, 2011. The entire disclosure of the aboveapplication is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a system and process for making aflexible textile fibrous matt underlayment and, more particularly, to amachine that can be used to selectively form a flexible textile fibrousbatt pad using either adhesive, or alternatively heat, to bind thefibers.

BACKGROUND

This section provides background information related to the presentdisclosure which is not necessarily prior art. Example embodiments willnow be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings.As indicated above, processes for preparing floor underlayment, such asmedium density floor underlayment, are known to those skilled in thisart.

Textile pads are widely used in flooring applications. A pad isdesirable when wood flooring is applied over sub flooring. These padsused in flooring applications serve multiple purposes. They may absorbimpact, such as from persons walking on the flooring. They may providesound deadening, and may provide insulating properties against heattransfer. Pads also may accommodate roughness, unevenness, or otherflaws in the sub flooring, and may provide a barrier against moistureand dirt. Finally, pads may lessen impact stresses on the flooring tolengthen the life of the flooring and make the flooring appear to bemore durable and of a higher quality. Traditionally, these pads areformed when fibers of various sizes and materials are mixed and boundtogether. The binding can occur using know techniques such as needlingor by the use of meltable binder fibers such as polypropylene. Thesetechniques, while functional have several disadvantages which lead toslow throughput, high energy and cost, and environmental emissions.

As stated above, the teachings herein broadly relates to forming textilefiber matt, and particularly medium density fiber matt. Processes forproduction of medium density fiber matt are well known to the skilledartisan and include the blowline addition of isocyanate binders. Such aprocess is described, generally, below.

SUMMARY

This section provides a general summary of the disclosure, and is not acomprehensive disclosure of its full scope or all of its features. Thepresent teaching discloses a method for producing a floor underlayment.The method includes providing textile fibers to a blowline. Optionally,polymeric MDI containing binder having a diisocyanate content of lessthan about 20% by weight is mixed with the textile fibers in theblowline to treat the textile fibers. The fiber/MDI is at leastpartially dried. The treated fibers are pressed and subjected to steamto activate the adhesive and bind the fibers to provide a flexibletextile batt.

According to the teachings above, the polymeric MDI containing bindercan have a diisocyanate content of about 10% by weight or less whichallows for a flexible and, therefore, rollable textile product.

According to the teachings above, wherein the polymeric MDI containingbinder has a diisocyanate content of about 8% by weight or less.

According to the teachings above, wherein the polymeric MDI containingbinder has a diisocyanate content of about 6% by weight or less.

According to the teachings above, wherein the polymeric MDI containingbinder is emulsifiable. Further areas of applicability will becomeapparent from the description provided herein. The description andspecific examples in this summary are intended for purposes ofillustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the presentdisclosure.

According to the present teachings, a flooring material having a textilepad substructure with a density of greater than 13 pounds per cubic footis provided according to a first aspect of the teachings. The insulativetextile flooring pad has reinforcement fibers and a MDI binder.

Further, a flooring structure is disclosed. The flooring structure has asubfloor, a surface layer, and an insulative pad disposed between thesubfloor and the surface layer. The insulative pad has MDI binder andreinforcement fibers distributed uniformly and randomly within a firstplane. The fiber pad can be water resistant and be flexible andelastically deformable under its own weight.

Further disclosed is a floor underlayment for disposal under a floorsurface. The floor underlayment has less than 8% by weight MDI adhesiveand more than 85% reinforcement fibers. The floor underlayment has afirst surface disposed adjacent to the floor surface and has a densityof greater than 13.3 pounds per cubic foot.

Further disclosed is an apparatus for forming a plurality of textilepads from a textile batt according to another aspect of the invention.The apparatus comprises a pair of feed rollers for receiving a textilebatt and an adhesive activator positioned upstream of the pair of feedrollers that is capable of activating an adhesive on a portion of thefibers. A vapor barrier supply is optionally positioned downstream ofthe adhesive activator that is capable of supplying vapor barriermaterial that contacts the outer surfaces of the partial thicknesstextile batts, and pressure rollers positioned downstream of the vaporbarrier supply that are capable of partially compressing the partialthickness textile batts to bond to the vapor barrier to the fibers.

DRAWINGS

The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only ofselected embodiments and not all possible implementations, and are notintended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 represents the system according to the present teachings; and

FIG. 2 represents a forming machine used in the system shown in FIG. 1.

Corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts throughoutthe several views of the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 represents a system for forming a floor underlayment according tothe present teachings. The system 10 can be generally divided intoblending operations 12, mixing operations 14, fine opening operations16, adhesive application operations 18, adhesive tempering operation 20,forming operation 22, adhesive activation operation 24, and splittingand rolling 26.

The system has a first section 6 which is issued to form a textile fibermatt which has reinforcement and binding fibers and a second section 8which uses an adhesive binder to form the textile fiber matt. As such,an aperture is able to selectively run the first section 6 to form afiber batt using binding fibers or the second section to form the battusing an adhesive.

In producing medium density fiber matt, a polyisocyanate resin isapplied directly to the textile fiber material in the fibertransportation system of the refiner of a fiber matt manufacturingplant. Generally, fibrous textile materials used to form the batt arefirst screened to remove therefrom both oversized and undersizedmaterial, e.g., fines and dirt. The textile fibers also can be subjectedto a preliminary washing step.

The cleaned fibers are conveyed to storage bins that feed pressurizedfibers into a blending operation 12, which can be of a conventionaldesign. The blending operation 12 refines the raw textile fiber materialinto fiber under air pressure of gravity feed. Generally, the blendingoperation 12 is usable for both the first 6 and second 8 sections of thesystem 10. In this regard, the blending operation 12 can be used to varythe mixture of the fibers depending on the material properties of thefinal product. The fibers pass from the blending operation 12 into therefining section while still under pressure, and this pressure ismaintained during the mixing operation 14. A baffle 11 is then used todirect the fiber to individual mixing machines assigned to the first 6or second 8 system section.

In the blending operation 12, textile fibers of varying denier, lengthand materials are combined in the mixing operation 14 into a generallyrandomly distributed mixture. The constituents of the fibers can benatural such as cotton, wool or jute, or they may be polymer based, forexample nylon, polyester, etc. A loose fibrous mixture of fibers istransported through the system using a series of transport blowers 28.After the mixing operation 14, the fibers are transferred to a fineopening machine 30 which opens the fibers and prepares them for adhesiveapplication.

Once opened, the fibers are again transported via a transport blower 28to the adhesive application operation 18. At this operation, thetemperature of the fibers is elevated an adhesive such as MDI is appliedto the mixed opened fibers. While the percentage of MDI applied can bevaried based on the required density of the end product, it isenvisioned that less than 20% and, more particularly, less than 10% and,even more particularly, 4-7% by weight MDI can be applied to the fibersto allow the matt to be flexible.

After application of the MDI adhesive, the fiber adhesive mixture istransferred to a drying conveyor. The drying conveyor allows an initialcooling of the fiber adhesive mixture. After drying, the fiber adhesivemixture is again mixed to ensure proper distribution of the adhesivethroughout the fibers.

The fibers are then passed through a cooled transfer tube 39 and cooledto room temperature. The cooled transfer tube 39 drops the temperatureof the adhesive cooled fibers. After chilling, the fibers are againmixed at the mixing operation and transported to the forming machine 40.The forming machine uses a belt or vibrating hopper to evenly distributethe coated fibers onto a transport screen mesh. The fibers are heated toabout 60° C. and formed into a non-compressed continuous slab. Thematerial is weighed to ensure proper density and thickness of thefinished product. Prior to compression, a release agent is sprayed ontothe exterior surface of the batt to prevent the sticking of the batt tothe conveyor belts. The release agent can be from the group consistingof soaps, fatty acids, waxes, silicones, and fatty acid salts.

An application of from about 1 to 20% MDI, preferably from about 2 to10%, and more preferably from about 4 to 7%, based on the oven dryweight of the fiber is generally employed. The batt formed has materialproperties described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,986,229, incorporated herein byreference.

Significantly faster line speeds have been achieved with the low volumepolymeric MDI-containing binders of the present invention- a significantcost savings. In addition, the polymeric MDI-containing binders of theinvention result in superior physical and mechanical properties in theresulting fiber matt product. For example, floor underlayment withhigher internal bond strength and reduced edge swelling can be producedas compared to floor underlayment produced with conventional,commercially available polymeric MDI-containing binders as described inU.S. Pat. No. 6,562,173, herein incorporated by reference. Optionally,binding in the matt can be accomplished using both binder fibers and anMDI adhesive.

Optionally, the system can use a pair of vapor barrier supply rollers126 are also located downstream of the tension rollers 118 and serve tosupply a vapor barrier layer 206′ and 206 to each of the two partialthickness pads 200′ and 200. The vapor barrier preferably is a plasticsheet material, typically about ½ to about 1 mil in thickness. The vaporbarrier, as the name implies, prevents the travel of vapor (usuallywater vapor) through the textile pads 210′ or 210. In the preferredembodiment, the vapor barrier layers 206′ and 206 is coextrudedpolyethylene, but alternatively any flexible vapor barrier of a suitablethickness may be used.

The pair of pressure rollers 129 are downstream of the adhesive appliers123 and the vapor supply rollers 126. The pair of pressure rollers 129bring together the two partial thickness pads 200′ and 200 and the twovapor barrier layers 206′ and 206 to form the two textile underlaymentpads 210′ and 210. The pair of pressure rollers 129 heat and partiallycompress the batts during the bonding of the adhesive to form the twotextile underlayment pads 210′ and 210.

In the preferred embodiment, the pressure rollers 129 apply about 400psi (pounds per square inch) of pressure to the two partial thicknesstextile pads 200′ and 200 and to the vapor barrier layers 206′ and 206.In addition, the pressure rollers 129 are maintained at a temperature ofabout 200 degrees Fahrenheit. The heating partially softens or breaksdown the vapor barrier to make it pliable and to aid in penetration ofthe vapor barrier by the adhesive.

Downstream of the pressure rollers 129 is a pair of take-up rollers 132.The pair of take-up rollers 132 may be used to roll up the finishedtextile underlayment pads 210′ and 210. The finished textileunderlayment pads 210′ and 210 may be used as a floor underlayment, alaminate floor underlayment, as part of a paint drop cloth, etc.

Each sample binder was emulsified with water at an about 1:1 ratio byweight and injected into the blowline to treat the fibers by mixing thefibers with the emulsified sample binders. During this stage, the flowrate through the blowline was about 100 Kg per hour and the emulsifiedsample binder flow rate was about 100 g per minute. After treating thefibers with the emulsified sample binders, the treated fibers werepassed through an about 2.7 meter diameter by about 89 meter in lengthflash-tube dryer at temperatures of about 90° C. inlet and about 55° C.outlet temperature, thus reducing the moisture content of the treatedfibers to about 12 to 14 percent (oven dry basis, which was calculatedby dividing the weight of the dried by the weight of the water in thewet and multiplying by 100).

The continuous slab is transported to an oven where the slab is heatedand compressed between two porous conveyor belts. Steam is appliedthrough the belts to activate the MDI adhesive. The above-describedprocess of forming medium density fiber matt is intended to beillustrative and should not be construed as limiting the presentinvention.

The dried, treated fiber was then collected in a storage bin prior tomatt formation. Matts were then formed, weighed and pre-compressed on acontinuous compression belt on line to consolidate the fiber matts, andcut to press-length size. Next, the pre-compressed matts were subjectedto a final pressing step in a heated press consisting of porous beltswhich were each covered with release agent. The closing of the pressconsisted of a two-stage close, followed by a hold at final position,and then a decompression stage to allow for a slow release of steampressure. The floor underlayment was pressed to a thickness of about 2.5to 10 mm. The final product is flexible inasmuch as it is rolled priorto shipment.

The test floor underlayment was then each tested for physical andmechanical properties in accordance with ASTME90-97, ASTME413-97. Theforegoing description of the embodiments has been provided for purposesof illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive orto limit the disclosure. Individual elements or features of a particularembodiment are generally not limited to that particular embodiment, but,where applicable, are interchangeable and can be used in a selectedembodiment, even if not specifically shown or described. The same mayalso be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as adeparture from the disclosure, and all such modifications are intendedto be included within the scope of the disclosure. Additionally, thedensity of the fiber batt can vary through the textile product. In thisregard, the MDI matt can have a higher density on outside surfaces ofthe matt.

Example embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will bethorough, and will fully convey the scope to those who are skilled inthe art. Numerous specific details are set forth such as examples ofspecific components, devices, and methods, to provide a thoroughunderstanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. It will beapparent to those skilled in the art that specific details need not beemployed, that example embodiments may be embodied in many differentforms and that neither should be construed to limit the scope of thedisclosure. In some example embodiments, well-known processes,well-known device structures, and well-known technologies are notdescribed in detail.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularexample embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As usedherein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” may be intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “including,” and“having,” are inclusive and therefore specify the presence of statedfeatures, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, butdo not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features,integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groupsthereof. The method steps, processes, and operations described hereinare not to be construed as necessarily requiring their performance inthe particular order discussed or illustrated, unless specificallyidentified as an order of performance. It is also to be understood thatadditional or alternative steps may be employed.

When an element or layer is referred to as being “on,” “engaged to,”“connected to,” or “coupled to” another element or layer, it may bedirectly on, engaged, connected or coupled to the other element orlayer, or intervening elements or layers may be present. In contrast,when an element is referred to as being “directly on,” “directly engagedto,” “directly connected to,” or “directly coupled to” another elementor layer, there may be no intervening elements or layers present. Otherwords used to describe the relationship between elements should beinterpreted in a like fashion (e.g., “between” versus “directlybetween,” “adjacent” versus “directly adjacent,” etc.). As used herein,the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more ofthe associated listed items.

Although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein todescribe various elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections,these elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections should notbe limited by these terms. These terms may be only used to distinguishone element, component, region, layer or section from another region,layer or section. Terms such as “first,” “second,” and other numericalterms when used herein do not imply a sequence or order unless clearlyindicated by the context. Thus, a first element, component, region,layer or section discussed below could be termed a second element,component, region, layer or section without departing from the teachingsof the example embodiments.

Spatially relative terms, such as “inner,” “outer,” “beneath,” “below,”“lower,” “above,” “upper,” and the like, may be used herein for ease ofdescription to describe one element or feature's relationship to anotherelement(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. Spatiallyrelative terms may be intended to encompass different orientations ofthe device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depictedin the figures. For example, if the device in the figures is turnedover, elements described as “below” or “beneath” other elements orfeatures would then be oriented “above” the other elements or features.Thus, the example term “below” can encompass both an orientation ofabove and below. The device may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptorsused herein interpreted accordingly.

What is claimed is:
 1. A floor structure configured to be disposed on asubfloor, the floor structure consisting of: a flooring surface layer;an insulative textile pad disposed between said subfloor and saidflooring surface layer, said insulative pad consisting of a fibrous weblayer of interlocked reinforcement fibers distributed substantiallyrandomly in a first plane, said textile pad comprising MDI which bindsthe interlocked reinforcement fibers.
 2. The floor structure accordingto claim 1, further comprising fibers selected from the group consistingof polyethylene, polyester, polypropylene, and mixtures thereof.
 3. Thefloor structure according to claim 1, wherein the insulative textile padhas a density of greater than about 10 pounds per cubic foot.
 4. Thefloor structure according to claim 1, wherein the insulative textile padcomprises less than 20% by weight MDI.
 5. The floor structure accordingto claim 4, wherein the insulative textile pad is about 5 mm thick. 6.The floor structure according to claim 1, wherein the insulative textilepad has a compression resistance at a compression of 25% of the originalthickness of greater than about 20 psi.
 7. The floor structure accordingto claim 1, wherein the insulative textile pad has a compressionresistance at 50% of the original thickness of greater than about 180psi.
 8. The floor structure according to claim 1, further comprising avapor barrier fixably bonded to the insulative textile pad.
 9. A floorstructure configured to be disposed on a subfloor, the floor structureconsisting of: a flooring surface layer; an insulative textile paddisposed below the flooring surface layer having a density of greaterthan 10 pounds per cubic foot disposed between said subfloor and saidwood based laminate, said insulative pad consisting of a fibrous weblayer of interlocked fibers and less than about 8% by weight MDIadhesive coupled to the interlocked fibers.
 10. The floor structureaccording to claim 9, wherein the insulative textile pad has a densityof greater than about 13.3 pounds per cubic foot.
 11. The floorstructure according to claim 9, wherein the insulative textile pad has adensity of about 18.9 pounds per cubic foot.
 12. The floor structureaccording to claim 11, wherein the insulative textile pad is about 5 mmthick.
 13. The floor structure according to claim 9, wherein theinsulative textile pad has a compression resistance at a compression of25% of the original thickness of greater than about 20 psi.
 14. Thefloor structure according to claim 11 wherein the insulative textile padhas a compression resistance at 50% of the original thickness of greaterthan about 180 psi.
 15. The floor structure according to claim 11,further comprising an adhesive layer disposed between the insulative padand the vapor barrier.
 16. An insulative textile pad comprising: afibrous web layer of interlocked reinforcement fibers distributedsubstantially randomly in a first plane, said textile pad comprising MDIand having a thickness between about 2.5 to 10 mm, the insulativetextile pad having a compression resistance at 50% of the originalthickness of greater than about 180 psi.
 17. The insulative textile padaccording to claim 16, further comprising fibers selected from the groupconsisting of polyethylene, polyester, polypropylene, and mixturesthereof.
 18. The insulative textile pad according to claim 16, whereinthe insulative textile pad comprises less than 20% MDI and has a densityof greater than about 10 pounds per cubic foot.
 19. The insulativetextile pad according to claim 16, wherein the insulative textile padhas a density of about 18.9 pounds per cubic foot.
 20. The insulativetextile pad according to claim 16, wherein the insulative textile padhas a compression resistance at a compression of 25% of the originalthickness of greater than about 20 psi.
 21. The insulative textile padaccording to claim 16, further comprising a single polyethylene layervapor barrier having a thickness of between about 0.5 to about 1.0 mil,fixably bonded to the insulative textile pad and in contact with thesubfloor.